Reviews

How's the story: does it exist? I don't think so,

Jung Jin Soo is creepy, monsters are funny (literally), Min Hye Jin is reckless but cool (But what's the use?), Kyung Hoon is... wait what's his role? lol. My brother is annoying, Oops sorry this is unrelated. Well, so is the show apparently.

"When one person suffers from delusions, we call it a mental illness. When the society suffers from them, we call it being normal." -Anonymous

One of the few things done right is the portrayal of society and its mindset lol... I'd rather won't comment on how religious things are shown... but the whole setup of how people (normal people not the crazy dudes) think... was relatable.

For 50×6=300min (approx), I was staring at my laptop screen, was legit for nothing coz this drama is just so random. Some random characters with some random backstories, with their random purpose put together and bunch of super annoying characters are thrown...wait, that explains poster well. Drama ends up being a hot mess that doesn't serve justice to anything, anyone... characters, actors-their acting.

I'm curious what's the writer trying to show actually...Story is like some scattered pieces joined together without giving proper time to explore any character well. I didn't the webtoon to I've no idea abt the background story.. but just judging from the drama. It lacks in many ways, it's confusing, writing just sucks, editing is choppy, the whole cult thing is crazy, why some characters exist... then they just vanish in a thin air. Other than Jung Jin Soo's purpose everything has loose ends, should I call it a Netflix thing so they can create seasons per season.

I do not have a problem with bad CGI even though it made me laugh at the monsters... they legit look funny, or even cinematography. They can have a small budget it's understandable... but what's wrong with lighting? Okay, I get that Netflix is been trying this for a while now... making dark lighting and cinematography to suit the theme of thrillers, but that doesn't mean it should be this bad that I had to check the brightness of my device two times. With bad color grading, it's weirdly dark.

The acting is spot on. Yoo Ah In legit gave me chills... but he doesn't look himself and if he's the sole reason if you want to watch the whole thing, you'll be disappointed he's dangling carrot. I appreciate Kim Hyun Joo's performance too. Park Jung Min and Woo Jin Ah slayed in a very small amount of screen time given.

I think the main problem with it is they just tried to do many things together is a small amount of time. Trying to put many characters... many things happening at the same time. But this season is just meant for the introduction and things are explained in later seasons... I may ignore it but right now I'm just thinking of it as an individual drama.

It doesn't have many surprising, thrilling, action factors. I didn't find it the least bit scary nor any jump-scaring moments. It's gory, disturbing at times...you might get disgusted on many occasions but I won't call it a good horror.

It doesn't bother to explain anything, just wreck your brain on your own. Nothing is impressive... nothing. I admit it's different but not in an extraordinary way. It's just normal... might be good as time pass, as I'm the least bit entertained and thrilled. I just hope the second season (if it's gonna happen) will prove me wrong and this is just a build-up for it.

Am I being harsh? yes. I should be.

Leggi di Più

Messed-up plot. Try to to be clever but fail. Too many loopholes all over the place.

(Review In Progress
-- done watching, in-progress reviewing, and after that still needs some edit.
-- sorry, it takes me some time as this such a headache.)

[+] This series is like an experimental work. After finishing, I highly admire the team that they really put a great effort in creating this drama. It's a complex story. The messageS they want to convey are difficult, thus meaningful. And the way to convey it isn't simply about plot writing. This series especially need the collaboration between the plot creating and filming/editing processes. So it's not only the story that is complex, the process for the aimed result is also a hard work here. I feel thankful they made this done. With this work of theirs, they challenge the new level of quality series in all aspects from creating to conveying processes.

[-] Anyway, they try too hard to be clever. In the end, there're still too many loopholes both in the main plot and sub-plots. To find a positive excuse for this, I'd blame the time constraint. The time limitation especially affects the writer. I feel that the writer only has solid ideas on the main things she wants to make happen, but she lacks the ideas to logically connect two or more dots, resulting in a messy resolvement that relies on cheating the audience.

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Two main cheating ways of this series that are unaccepatable for me are:-

1) They indulgedly create many conditions in the story on their own without caring the universal laws. These conditions are not the kind of reasonable conditions that would serve them right if they had a unique universe of their own story. These conditions are just to serve their own conveninece in resolving the conflicts the easy way because they can't think of how to resolve it properly without cheating. Let me give an example,

- The conflict is A wants to kill B who is a criminal treated at a hospital, but B is protected by two polices standing guard at the patient door at all time.

- Resolution of this series to let A kill B is to let C who is another police says via the walkie talkie that there's some incident happening near the hospital area and he needs some support at the moment. On hearing that, the two polices both left their position immediately. They shouldn't leave their post in the first place, but when they do, they do it so naturally like it's the way the world normally is as they don't even need to disccuss or hesistate a bit before setting off running away.

The above is just one example. There're A LOT along the way. The plot needs media to be stupid, needs people to be stupid, needs doctors to be able to do things that normally they are not able to. All of these for the sake of connecting the solid point A to point B. Remember what I mentioned above? They only have the solid ideas on main points while have no idea of how to connect them.

Their self-indulgement frustrates me a lot. They look down on the audience like me.

~~~~~

2) Because they can't find the proper way to solve their conflicts, they trick the audience by manipulating the scenes. The plot is mean to deceive the audience at first, so that they can make a surprise twist later. The proper way to do it is to give the same set of information to the audience as to the investigative storyline (= the storyline of solving the conflicts). An improper way to do it is to hide some parts of the information that the storyline knows from the audience. This series make a worse thing by manipulating the information. In some crucial scenes that would become the surprised twists later, they film it in 2 different ways - one is the way that actually happens, the other is the way they want the audience to believe happening. Then, they firstly show the audience the wrong occurrence to mislead the viewers. And later, when they reveal the twist, they show the other occurrence. This is cheating. You don't have skills to make things right. You want to be wise, but if you cheat it doesn't shows that you're wise anymore. It shows that you're just pretentious.

As unskilled as you are, you still need to learn a lot more to not anger the audience this way. Find a place to learn? Go read more works of Dan Brown and Agatha Christie!

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More rants:

(1) Story [-]

- Too many loopholes

- Like ep.1-2 pretty much

- Ep.3 starts to have loopholes in the details.

- Ep.4-5 have too many unrealistic parts esp. about media, human behaviors in society, and decision-making relating to social impact. These surreal parts are essential for story development. If there's none of these, the story wouldn't go on the way it is written, which means the production team is not smart enough to make a proper investigative story without constructing some special conditions that would help them make the story progress easier. What a convenient way to solve a question that outwits them, right? They do it by making a condition that says whatever they say is true. Anyway, in the end, this just portrays that everything in the story is pretentious.

- Ep.8, 10 - more so-called loopholes - the self-conditioned parts that help the story to progress along the way they want.
[[ spoiled note: 8-the surveillance officers / 10-the physical call instead of phone call; the criminal didn't have father at first but now has?? huh; the criminal's mother supposed to give birth after Yohan's mother in the early ep but now she did it before for 6-7 yrs?? ]]

- Ep.14
1) Why the TV producer takes that guy in her car?? -_-
2) How that kid gets to that man's house?? << It's like everyone is a character in an RPG game doing things without motive, no situation progresses in a logical process. It's like these characters and situations happening around them are programmed in a game.

Ep.15
1) Conveniently skip the memory about chasing on the road scene?
2) Suddenly the older police who usually fails to observe the details about everything notices the very subtle details of a victim. How convenient, the writer makes everyone change in a wink, makes any situation to occurs or changes from before like magic.
3) I also don't forget the alibi of everyone in the 1st case and waiting for you to properly explain, writer!

Ep.17 - The new paint on the wall can be removed by tissue paper??!!

- This story shows that polices are generally stupid. The supervisors would choose their subordinates to make an important decision instead of them while the subs are not clever enough.

- The media in this story breaks the law and their ethics all the time. It's the circle that there're only people who think about their own benefits. They dare to publicly take advantage of the situations even when there are other people's lives at stake. And no one at all blames the media. Nor does the media get sued. Very weird society.

- The story shows the people of Korea are stupid, always ready to be pulled to the left then dragged to the right without the ability to think on their own. They believe whatever words from TV. The people/audience in this story is much stupider than those characters in the novel 1984.

- Let me yell at this series a bit:- The real media don't work like that. The real polices don't work like that, either. And the people of Korea or most of the places in the world are not like that. The production team of this drama is just an imposter pretending to know what social psychology is, pretending to know how journalists and polices work while they actually Know NOTHING. What they do is just spreading the wrong perceptions about everything.

p.s. Damn to this drama, where the hell in the world that a TV channel would intentionally live broadcast a crime as a criminal wants? Furthermore, two TV channels even argue/criticize/condemn each other on TV-live-broadcasting to make the situation benefit the criminal. The media here are very much stupid and very much immature. Nonsense. In reality, this kind of TV station would surely be heavily investigated by law and backfired by social pressure.

P.S.2 And the ER doctors don't work in patients' rooms! You don't know how doctors work, either. You -writer, director, producer of this series- truly Know Nothing.

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(2) Acting [~]

- The older police always overacts. The paradox is they mention about overacting represents the lack of understanding in the thing the overactor tries to depict (ep.7).

- The acting of the TV program's female producer is substandard. She doesn't know the way to show her character's expressions through her face. I don't feel that she feels what she acts. She just makes a subtly disturbed face, and continues to make it the whole time. There's only one kind of facial expression from her, which is the kind of expression that I don't feel that she feels it.

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(3) Script [-]

- Bad script. It's like the characters in the series are the RPG-game players. They walk around talking to witnesses, interviewing people in the RPG-game style that we have to stop and talk on the way to certain people to get more information to complete each mission. The conversations in that kind of interviewing/asking strangers in the series are blocked and unnatural - if we get to the right person, the convo would flow as well as directly get to the point, no small talk, no introduction. No matter how weird or rude the questions of the characters are to the strangers, those strangers answer along the way that the characters want to know without opposing. No matter how private the information they get asked, they don't feel it and are willingly answer them.

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Leggi di Più

Interesting but Unmemorable

Let me start with some disclaimers because, as you'll find out, my rating for this mini-series is much lower than the majority of other reviewers/raters. Suffice it to say I have always struggled with Japanese Dramas.

I think their stories are interesting -- especially those that delve into the dark psychological aspects of human nature. However, almost all, without exception, have failed to elicit any emotion from me. For whatever reason, I often find that characters in J-Dramas fall flat. Alice in Borderland, unfortunately, is no exception.

Another important thing of note is that this review pertains only to this drama. I'm aware the story is based on a manga that I have not read, and the truth is told, I don't plan to check out. So keep in mind that I jumped into this series without knowing anything about it.

PLOT: Interesting, albeit left mostly unexplored
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The world (aka country/reality) in which this drama takes place is hands down the most interesting aspect of this series. So much so, that wanting to know more about the world and explore it through the "escape rooms" game-dynamic kept me engaged enough to finish this one in three days.

Sadly, the series had to juggle too many characters, so the world itself was left vastly unexplored. Of course, this is only the beginning and I've heard rumors of a second season, so they may simply want to keep some mysteries to resolve in the sequel. If so, I'll probably watch it in hopes of getting some answers to my numerous questions, though I won't really be holding my breath for it.

CHARACTERS: Flat and forgettable
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Rather than talk about each of the main characters, I'll talk about them as a whole, since they all share the same problem and that is... none of them are really fleshed out.

You could blame the length of the drama, certainly. But that would be a cheap excuse. These characters lack complexity and it was that alone that made me feel nothing for them. They could've all died by the end and I wouldn't have shed a single tear.

Now, there was an attempt at building emotion. But it felt superficial, rushed, and "formulaic". I knew when a character was going to be axed because we got to hear their sob story through a quick dialogue with another character.

To be frank, if you like being engaged by the characters this Drama may fall short for you. But if you don't mind simple characters we don't really "get to know", so long as the world they inhabit is interesting, then this will make a decent watch.

MALE VS FEMALE CHARACTERS: Problematic
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I want to take a moment to express a problem I have with Japanese Dramas. Mind you, I haven't tried that many... but my avoidance of them has to do precisely with the reasons I'm about to briefly delve into.

This Drama is male-centric. Meaning, male characters tend to be given more depth than female characters. As such, the drama gave almost every male character some kind of motivation which explained why they made each of their decisions.

Unfortunately, female characters were left unexplored and at times, downright untouched. Even Usagi (the FL) was stripped from giving her depth by focusing her flashbacks on her father, rather than on her own life/aspirations. There's only one female character (a transgender gal) who was given a brief but beautiful story. Her aside, though, female characters were depicted as disposable, selfish, useless, and/or simple eye-candy.

Unlike female characters, male characters were usually portrayed in a nobler way. Even minor male characters were shown willing to sacrifice themselves for other men/friends. While female characters were killed off for reasons verging on the absurd (like showing the audience the dangers of a room, for example). I don't want to add spoilers here, but if you're interested to know more, add a comment and I'll explain using the spoiler tags.

FRAMING: toxic male gaze
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The above points lead me to talk about how the Drama was directed because it's one of the most problematic areas and maybe the aspect that spoiled my enjoyment the most.

Many of the decisions here were taken with the idea that "sex sales" and, of course, most times that means female bodies will be exploited. So as the series crossed into the last quarter (when they reach the beach), a rule was set that everyone should walk around in a bathing suit to ensure "no one can hide any weapons".

The result was having most female characters walk around in small bikinis while male characters got to wear baggy trunks and shirts. The fact that they didn't march around shirtless nullified the supposed "purpose/logic" of the rule. To the point where we even see a few of these male characters taking out weapons from the back of their swimming trunks...

But perhaps more intolerable than this was a scene that involved what would've been a gang-rape had the scene not been interrupted. Luckily, the director decided not to undress the character who gets kidnapped and almost assaulted (which I believe is supposed to be an underage girl).

Yet, the entire scene still felt crass because the camera hovered over the assailant's shoulder, making the audience complicit by showing the scene from his POV instead of the victim's. The result is that sexual assault ends up portrayed as something quasi-erotic, rather than as something horrific that is happening to the victim. This didn't settle well with me, as this has been a technique I thought we'd move past with the rise of the #metoo movement...

OVERALL: On the fence
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To be honest, this one is a tough one to recommend without putting on the table all the additional notes/flaws I've pointed out in this review. I think the world is interesting enough to make this drama watchable --binge-watchable even!-- and the "escape room" games were hands-down the best part.

However, the characters are not memorable or even original. They felt cartoonish to me and ultimately unengaging. I also hated the directing and the constant "butt framing". The disparity in how the genders were handled was especially jarring, so I wouldn't recommend this one if you care about that at all.

I also think this show calls for some trigger warnings because we see: attempted gang rape, executions, and a number of shootouts that may hit close to home to someone living in the USA; as it is reminiscent of many real schools shootouts in the way they were portrayed. So keep all that in mind if you decide to watch. If any of these things trigger you, I'll recommend staying away from this one.

If, on the other hand, you don't care about these things and like watching psychological mysteries (which are constructed like anime), then you'll probably really enjoy this one.

Leggi di Più

How to be a people pleasear | lack of romance

So sad to watch another drama where the FL is an example how to be a boxing bag, how to be a victim, how to not trust yourself at all, to be a people pleasear... the toxic life of koreans.... to be abused but to continue the contact, working with abusers. I dont understand how can be an example for young girls that whatch this kdrama.

How can you have, treat with kindness, even visit a frind that always wanted nothing for you. Bullying is a thing that koreans like so much... it become a normality to entrain.

I would have loved to see how she fights for her, how to gain self-confidence, to be in her own power, how to stand for yourself, how to speak for yourself.

The romance is absent completely.

There are some beautiful stories also and for this I give it a 5 but I don't recommend.

Leggi di Più

EYECANDIES

While i cant say anything bad about the 4 main cast, who may be some of the best looking cast in any BL show, the story and the execution is a bit lacking.

The plot is a typical Thai BL setting - boy hates (or pretends) to hate another boy only to fall in love in the end - whats worse is this time we got 2 of that (or 3 or 4 if you count the side characters). There is no real climax to the story except to make these guys fall inlove with each other - there was very little time for the characters to grow. Initially they were trying to tell the backstories of Zon and Tutor, only for all of that to not matter in the end. There was no antagonist and no real (or very little) conflict and the finale felt like it was really rushed - nothing really happened in the final episode, other than Saifzon's first time.

If they didnt try to be so serious in the beginning and just made it a completely light hearted romance drama, things would have been better.

Saint is always amazing but for me Zee stole the show. The way he cried when they broke up and the way he begged Tutor to take him back broke my heart too.

Thank god Tommy was cute enough that even if his character is so annoyingly written I cant still hate him. Jimmy is just charming and cute as hell. These 2 deserve a better series of their own.

Will i rewatch the series again - maybe, only for the EYECANDIES, and if i am locked down again at home for a long period of time. Otherwise not at all.

I do understand the pressure of finishing a show in the midst of the covid pandemic - we all know that the production was heavily affected by it. And because of their effort to not hang the fans in the middle of the show, im still giving the show a 7.

Leggi di Più

Holy smokes! My mind is blown in millions of pieces.

Someone please hand Jung Kyung Ho an Oscar. It's such a shame that I never knew this actor existed. His acting messes with your mind and emotions because the way he portrays "Doc Son" no one else could have. He adds his own element of mysteriousness.

When gruesome fights and drug deals can excite you to this extent you know you got yourself something special. The action is ecstasy. When the fights start it's like you're watching something blissful.

I think the greatest thing about this show is it's realistic factor. I see realism within the characters and their pasts. There is so much complications and emotions going on that you go on the journey along with them.

Less the complications the better? Not in this case. You just want more and more of each thing whether it be complicated or messed up because it still delivers and grabs a hold of your attention.

Our OTP. Action and romance together it has the tendency to get mushy and "throw it all away for the woman." BUT not in this case. Our main lead knows the difference between professionalism and personal business. They're such a pleasure to watch because they compliment each other very well. They add heat. They add comfort. They add soul. This couple is a package between amazing chemistry and realistic expectations.

This show will never stop surprising you. Every cliffhangers has left an emotional scar. When you watch this show you'll be glued to your seat and you'll be literally in the face of the screen because you don't want to miss a single aspect of this drama.

It's dark. It's bloody. It's got drug deals. Power. Corruption. Heat. It's got everything. How can you turn yourself away from this.

I feel like I'm not talking about Heartless City/Cruel City If I don't mention that this the best drama of 2013.

Leggi di Più

One of the better GMMTV shows but far away from a 10...

As usually the show started strong, but while it did not fall of a cliff it was a bit flat in the later episodes. The comedic parts are often over the top as usual and the finale did not catch me at all.

At least the script was better than normal, but of course the predictability was a given. So it's a light-hearted show with few ups and not many downs, on the good side overall. But it will not leave an impression for me. While their chemistry was good, I felt there was not much tension between them and I also didn't feel that longing after three years and the reason was a bit "boring" imho.

It's pleasant to watch, it's heart-warming most of the time, but it misses the spice I have expected after all the interviews of the MLs I have seen before the show. It was just "safe" as usual by GMMTV. Success with the fangirls for the reunion of a fan-favorite couple, earning lots of money with fan-meets, concerts and merch. And that's what's a three billion ($ or €) industry is all about in most cases. Sorry to say, this series is very far away from the 10.0 many have given but we got disappointed by GMMTV much more before. Overall a decent show which can be watched without much brain-power but also a show which will not drive us insane with a stupid script either.

Leggi di Più

missed the mark (watch suggestions)

Overall: though this is based on a book which has 2 other live action adaptations, I tried my best to review this series on its own merits. That being said, I think some fans of the book and original adaptation will not like a few changes that the creators have made as they fundamentally changed 1 character which alters their dynamic to feel imbalanced. Aired 10 episodes about 1 hour long on WeTV (need to VPN to Thailand, cut version & uncut version https://wetv.vip/en/album/pgahblq3qny0xuz) and YouTube cut https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqQkseRPA8d53_Hg0wnBlDFwNtFBw6xo3&si=rpt7pbo4KhLJoAoj Later added YouTube uncut for channel members. You can tell you are watching the uncut version if ep 1 starts at a fancy event in a flash forward. The cut version starts with a bunch of students taking an exam. Re-aired uncut version on Viki April 2025 https://www.viki.com/tv/41064c-addicted-heroin

Content Warnings (uncut): non con kissing/biting, fight, bullying, drugging, abusive parent/violence, transphobia, non con kiss, theft, kidnapping/held against will, punch, drugging, blackmail, homophobia

Watch Suggestions (this is for the uncut version, it cuts out some of the love triangle stuff)
- watch episodes 1 & 2
- episode 3 watch beginning to 12:15, 13-24:45, 36:25-40, 46-end
- watch episodes 4 & 5
- episode 6 watch beginning to 27 minutes
- episode 7 watch 22:15-23:35, 26:30-34:15 (if you want to see a character be unhinged), and 44 to the end
- episode 8 skip 14:40-38
- episode 9 skip 6:30-31 and skip 43:30-49:15
- episode 10 skip 31:15-37:30

What I Liked
- visuals (i.e. working out scene)
- countryside setting
- sweet moments
- that they modified a part in episode 7, the book appears to have been written in 2015 and I have no problem with adaptations changing some things from the source material
- that 1 character didn't get a redemption arc in the finale
- a decent plan in the finale
- satisfied with the way it ended even if there isn't a special or second season
- production value (especially how the opening scene transitioned into the flashback, however it needs better transitions overall)

Room For Improvement
- the cut version took out key relationship development between both couples however it did take out some of the evil girlfriend/wannabe girlfriend stuff which was nice, speaking of
- too much screentime on evil girlfriend/wannabe girlfriend cliche
- tried to cover way too much plot, the side couple would randomly appear and disappear, too much of the main couple's relationship development was done in a montage
- choppy (even the uncut), it quickly jumped from one scene to the next
- a character was toned down but then went very unhinged, the dynamic didn't work
- fake kissing (a reason not to cast a 16 year old and a 30 year old...)
- the transphobic comment in episode 3 which I think was supposed to be translated as "he's not even a real man, he's a trans friend of mine"
- too many flashbacks
- comedy sound effects, also the tone switching between comedy and serious moments didn't always work
- nonsense stuff ie in ep 10 characters didn't tell another character information because they thought it would make him sad so instead he was both sad and mad for many years
- one of the worst/most confusing releases I've ever seen, the youtube channel that released episode 1 was different from the channel that released episode 0, no subtitles even though there were supposed to be and then the subtitled cut version was removed from youtube shortly after it was available to watch, 1 week later ep 1 and 2 cut were back up with subtitles

Note About Actors' Ages (I didn't take off points for this but as an fyi, 1 actor was 16 when he filmed this, the other lead actors' ages were: 26, 17 & 18; age of majority in Thailand is 20)
- from the source material and as shown in the series, the characters are the same age, they start in high school and then later there is a time jump
- there were zero real kisses, the one supposedly intimate scene was very tame and only kissing the person's neck/close to their neck

Cut version differences in episodes 1 & 2 (overall the uncut version is better, I didn't have the energy to watch all cut versions to compare but this gives you an idea of types of differences)
- in episode 1, 12 minutes were cut, about 5 minutes of that was there was an intro scene that took place in the future/present before a flashback, they also cut short the vandalism scene, then they removed Pop talking to his grandma/dad towards the end, and they removed the very end where there is a flashback to the vandalism scene but a new part shown
- in episode 2 (58 uncut/47 cut), after store there is a short talk with grandma about him working which is why he is out late, they cut a little of the nurse talking, in the infirmary they cut at the end that Hero got into the bed with Poppy to cuddle with him, after the sneezing they cut where the girl must have left a box of toilet paper for Mr. Sneezy and Mr. Sneezy thinks it's from Mr. Grumpy who denies it but he is shushed, after Pop's meeting with Hero's dad he goes to school and walks by Hero who is shirtless and randomly wrestling other students for fun, Pop volunteers to wrestle pins Hero and they stare at each other, after Pop took Hero's shirt to wash it there is a scene at a convenience store where Pop helps Hero with writing/homework, they then get drunk with Pop defending his mom and putting his head on Hero's shoulder, Hero gives Pop a new pair of shoes, ties them, Pop then shushes Hero and leans in, it cuts to Pop waking up shirtless in his bed with seemingly a hard on

Leggi di Più

My alarm would not ring for this show

I withheld my opinions for this series until the second season came out, hoping they would tweak the things that were wrong with the first season. First off, I am all for realistic storylines with flawed characters. But what I do not stand for are characters that do not have a character growth at all. From the onset, there seemed to be a lot of potential because of the premise. An application that reveals the feelings of the other person? Interesting. Does that mean transparency from the get go? Yes (which was later on conveniently wiped out, but who cares, JoJo can do whatever she wants. But more about that later)! Refreshing? Sure. A distorted way of communicating? ABSOLUTELY.

Let me breakdown what and where this went wrong for me -
1. A sudden cliched "two worlds apart" situation between the 1ML and FL. I was suspicious they might add that trope of "leaving for the benefit of the other", but I hoped, really hoped they wouldn't do that. Proved me wrong.
2. The way FL's story arc progressed flatly until the last episode where she suddenly decided to right the wrongs. It took someone to murder people for her to finally realize she wasn't really being a nice person. If I had to describe her story graph it would be _________/ At least that's what it was made to look like, for me it never picked up. There are far, far better characters arcs that overcome childhood traumas, without playing with other people's feelings and messing up their heads.
3. The writers probably wanted to show that the two MLs were unconditionally in love with JoJo, but all it looked like to me what she could do whatever she wants, and they'd still be at her beck and call. There were multiple instances she stepped on their hearts and didn't care to explain why. They still followed her like lost puppies. They both deserved so much better. Sun-oh definitely did. That man was made to cry for years - YEARS - over the FL who TILL the end never made up for her actions.
4. I would have been very happy if the bromance of the two MLs had more substance. It felt empty. I was supposed to feel it, but couldn't.
5. The second season felt so forced it made me cringe. Like a 16-episode melo was attempted to be cramped in a 6-episode mini-series. The story felt off, the wrap up was messed up, there were no emotions attached.
6. I feel I need to emphasize a little more about the FL's character. It is going down as one of the most frustrating leads I have ever seen. I see zero reason for her being the lead at all, she showed zero maturity, zero sensibility, zero empathy, zero growth in any sense whatsoever and still looked like a victim in every situation till the last episode.

There were several things I liked as well though, I should mention them nevertheless -
1. The first season was shot beautifully. I loved the setting, it was really refreshing. One word to describe it would be - promising.
2. The way the relationship between Jojo, her aunt and her cousin evolved (however limitedly).
3. The acting was good, I loved the work of the whole cast! I could see them trying their best with what they were given.
4. The overall concept of the show and what we could learn from it. It's thought provoking.

Comparing the things I liked, and the things I did not, it is safe to say it was the writing that ruined it for me. The storyline + characters. The way the flaws of the FL were glorified and excused because of her past basically undermines the growth people actually undergo when they overcome traumas. I wish the actors chose a better project. I'd love to see other works of theirs, because this show is a bad memory now. What's worse is that along with the FL, the audience is made to play ping pong with their feelings regarding the MLs. I hate when shows do that. Now the 1ML is being inconsiderate and heartless, now the 2nd one is doing the same, oh god the 1ML is hurt, oh no no the 2ML is hurt now. What exactly are you trying to do writers? Do you have no other content to keep the viewers watch your show until the end? It's a rhetoric question. They do not, in fact, have any other content.

Never re-watching this, and never recommending this to anyone.

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I decided to post a review cause I felt like I needed to express my feelings about this drama - my thoughts and opinions are completely different from most people, but anyways.

The thing is: a good drama for me doesn't need to be filled with moments that will make you suffer with the characters and it can't be that foreseeable. And You're Beautiful it's just this. You can fully understand the depth of the characters within some episodes, and if you try to take a guess on what they will do next, probably you'll be right.

There's no need to keep hammering a single point in the story, and still, they do this all the time. At one point, I got tired of gritting my teeth and screaming to the screen, cause I had already seen what was happening another billion times. It's repetitive, and even though I've kept rooting for one specific character, I knew since the beginning he wasn't going to get the ending I wanted, because, once again, the story is foreseeable.

The plot was a good one to work with - it never was supposed to be a deep story, but it could be better than what we had. The drama could be finished with only ten episodes, excluding unnecessary and dull interactions between the characters and mysteries that aren't really that mysterious. The music is ok, the few tracks we have are good, but I find myself really annoyed by the fact that, one, it seems like we only have five songs along the whole drama (and three of them are different versions of the same track), and two, why do they put such a tense instrumental in moments that doesn't have the need to it?

The best point for me is the acting - all the actors besides Park Shin Hye did a fairly good job. I kept wondering, why does she represents like this in this drama? I mean, Heartstrings was ok, Heirs too, and Pinocchio is her best drama without doubts, but her acting in You Are Beautiful annoys me so much. I don't find it cute, neither funny, nor girly. It's just annoying and the scenes I liked the most were the ones she wasn't trying so hard (episode 12, the greenhouse part, is one of my very few examples). Maybe she matured since then, and for me this one is her worst drama.

I can't say the drama isn't funny. It was one of the few things that saved it for me. I laughed so hard in some parts that it wasn't all lost. And if I ignored the existence of two of the three main male characters while Go Minam was interacting with one of them, I could go through the scene without any unneeded anger. It was silly, and sometimes fun, but not my piece of cake.

All in all, I would never rewatch it, but if you like silly thingies (and amorous triangles), if you're bored and want something to entertain yourself a little bit (only until the very first cringeworthy moment), you may want to give You Are Beautiful a try.

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Your Inner Beauty Speaks to Me

Face swap. Murder investigations. Blossoming romance. Gothic cinematography. These are the four ingredients that create this stunning drama. The story is about the female lead who has a scar on her face. On her wedding day, a beautiful and obsessed woman swaps her face with the female lead, in order to marry her husband (the male lead). But ends up being killed the same day. With a new face and body, the female lead begins to investigate her death in the sinful city, alongside her husband who doesn’t know her true identity.

It’s important to mention that the first two episodes are unusual as they give all the screen time to the guest actress who portrays the original body of the female lead (scar face). This is a great exposition in establishing the relationship between the main leads and enhancing their love story. However, the drawback is that when the main actress shows up at episode three, it feels a little off and it takes a few episodes to get used to seeing the same character portrayed by someone else. (I discuss more about this below).

The biggest highlight for me is the wonderful writing of the male lead who truly makes us all believe that he falls in love with the female lead’s personality and that no matter what face or body she possesses, he will always choose her and love her unconditionally. I loved seeing their blossoming romance, which was kind of slow burn but more like steadily built up in a realistic and mature way.

What truly surprised me in this drama is the intricate murder investigation cases which felt real, raw and well developed. They had the right amount of mystery and cool twists to keep the audience engaged. They never felt like filler scenes as they always connected to the main conflict of the plot. The fact is that I absolutely loved the cases despite being someone who rarely watches investigation dramas or even likes them.

MAIN CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- Pan Yue (male lead) is written to perfection. You cannot not fall in love with him. He puts personality above looks. He is a great fighter, great poet and probably great lover (hello kiss scenes). The actor Liu Xue Yi has such a strong on-screen presence, he is smoking hot and totally underrated. His character felt well developed especially in showing how he falls in love with the female lead. Perhaps his only flaw is that he might be too perfect but I ain’t complaining.
- Yang Cai Wei / Shangguan Zhi (female lead) is shown as strong-willed, brave, intelligent with a unique forensic skill. My only issue with the way the character is written is the slight inconsistency of her personality after her face is swapped (I’ll discuss in more detail the negative points below). The main actress Ju Jing Yi was fantastic in her role and especially her acting impressed me massively when she portrayed the villain in the first two episodes. I feel she did really well in playing two distinctly different characters and I was easily convinced of the face swap.

POSITIVE:
- Blossoming romance that’s built well and steadily (like a mature and realistic relationship).
- Devilishly handsome male lead with strong on-screen presence.
- Dark and mysterious murder cases that are well written and show the brutality of humanity.
- Male lead falls in love with the female lead’s personality, not her physical looks.
- Smart female lead with unique forensic skills.
- Hot shirtless scenes (yes I said it).
- Hot kiss scene (one but worth the watch).
- Perfect balance between the romance story and the investigation plot. I never felt one overpowered the other.
- Gothic and sexy cinematography.
- Liu Xue Yi (male lead) brilliant acting in every possible way. The way he speaks, the way he moves, the way he walks. He is simply captivating to watch.
- Ju Jing Yi (female lead) portrays two characters beautifully. Her villainous role, although short, is a total scene stealer.
- Engaging and well executed plot.
- Beautiful OST.
- Great support cast and guest actors that stand out with their acting.
- Nice push and pull dynamic between the leads (at the start).

NEGATIVE:
!!! No drama is without flaws and although there are negative points here, none of them took away from my enjoyment. The main issue I had was how the face swap was handled at the beginning of the drama.

- The drama gives all the screen time in the first two episodes to the guest actress (who portrays the original female lead) which creates an awkward emotional bond with the audience when she is suddenly replaced by the main lead at episode three (after the face swap). In terms of the love story, this is great as it emphasised the male lead’s love for the female lead and clearly showed the audience that he did not fall in love with her because she suddenly had a nice face and body. However I feel the actual female lead JJY suffered since the audience had to get used to seeing the same character as her. What would have made it better is, if they had started the drama with JJY (as the villain) and given her more screen time to establish her as the main lead.
- The actual face swap remained a mystery in the whole drama. It was never explained how it was done. In fact it felt very unrealistic that the characters kept referring to it as a face swap when it is very clear that the two actresses have different body types, weight and skin tone. I feel it would have been better if they had chosen an actress similar to JJY or just called it a body/soul swap.
- Personality switch. The original YCW (main character) is shown as mature, calm and level-headed but after the face swap she oddly becomes extremely carefree as SZ. We are told that the character is trying to pretend to be SZ but even when she is alone, we don’t really see her as the original YCW from the first two episodes. Having said that, in the later episodes and especially when her identity is revealed, her personality does appear very similar to the original YCW. So I do blame the writers for this inconsistency. I believe the reason they made her carefree after the switch was to give us light-hearted scenes (especially with the male lead) which meant they sacrificed logic for cuteness.
- Although the drama wraps up well and resolves the main conflict related to the leads, it still leaves it open for a second season. But we all know chinese dramas rarely do second seasons so I kind of wish the last 10 seconds of the drama were cut.

OVERALL:
This is the Best 2024 Historical drama for me so far. Even better, it’s the best 2024 drama for Youku so far too. It has gathered millions of views with a 10,000 heat index by day three of its release. In fact, it became such a huge success that Youku upgraded it to S+ treatment (promotion and live events). I’m very much impressed by what the production has done with an A level (low budget) drama.

If you are looking for a drama with blossoming romance, murder investigations, beautiful gothic cinematography with smart and skillful main leads + a male lead who falls for the female lead’s personality not her looks, watch this drama now.

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It showed what is easy, tells the obvious and avoided what could have been great!

The genre listed for this drama is Romance, Wuxia, Drama, and War, which sounds very legendary on paper, except that it managed to dip its toes in all four without actually excelling in any. This is just a guilty pleasure romcom.

I came here for some sweeping war chess and tactics, and of course a razor-edged female general we were promised in the trailer and the poster. I kept searching for the "larger than life" hype that I created in my head but sadly I was disappointed.

He Yan, on paper, is everything I expect from a strong female lead. Brave, witty, with a moral backbone and we get to see glimpses of it in the flashbacks. But somehow the balance between "female general" and "romantic lead" was off almost all the time. Here is where the drama falters the most for me.

We were told she fought her way up the ranks disguised as a man, surviving in a brutal, male-dominated world of war and yet in present, that struggle barely showed. She kept acting too cute.
Yes, women are allowed to be warriors and be happy and thriving in love but for it to feel real, the transition needs to carry that weight. I missed the awkwardness, the hesitation or even the tension. I wanted to see push and pull, the conflict between her desires and the hardened exterior that she might have built over the years of disguise. That would have felt earned.
But it looked like the writers got the amnesia trope themselves and forgot all about her past when it came to romance. The aegyo (lack of a better word) like behaviour undermined the whole dark and serious vibe of the drama I was expecting.

Also that whole arc where the FL pretends to be her brother really demands a huge suspension of disbelief. But I feel they did a good job with keeping her makeup to minimal to atleast make it look believable.

Coming to romance, the sparks existed, but again, it was too mild and easy. The angst, the longing, the courtship lacked passion. I wasn't excited for them to get together. I knew they were the leads and things just kept happening. Even the key moments felt dull. It wasn't bad but nothing to run home about.

The drama also wanted to scream women's empowerment, but like everything else, it just tells and does not show for it to actually make an impact. It was just all about the grand speeches. There was one scene where she was supposed to fight to show her talent in front of the army, and I was excited to finally see that fire but they cut it away and came back when it was over. If you want to sell me a hard-earned battle warrior, show her that way. There were other fight scenes too, but none of them left any impression on me.

Also, the focus on side characters who made minimal impact on the overall story was a baffling choice. I feel there was a lot more to explore about the lead characters especially the male lead. But instead I feel I know SML better than him. The SML in my opinion got the most fleshed story. It was unpredictable and he was given so much depth as a character compared to the leads. And the whole princess and master storyline was just not needed. Some deaths felt completely pointless, added neither the shock value or the story value. I was just confused.

And can we please take a second to talk about last 4 episodes. What in the world kept happening. The character arcs were already weak but somehow they manged to destroy that as well. I am still confused about a few things as why we needed that. This includes all fronts from comedy to romance.

Production-wise, this was below average. The overall set design lacked a certain richness. The poster had better colour grading, and the overall colour palette of the drama felt muted. And whoever is in charge of the blood effects should retire immediately. I mean, what were those ruby red lipstick swatches. Nothing disappoints me more than when a tragic moment is happening and fake blood on the actor's cheeks kept distracting me. Also, the dialogues were as lacklustre as the production.

Acting-wise, this is my first time seeing the leads, and I feel this shouldn't be the story I should be judging their acting on. Ryan Cheng served with his visuals, and Zhou Ye was bubbly ( a little too much) but did show us the few glimpses of a strong warrior when the script allowed but I was expecting more. Zhang Kangle, as Chu Zhao, impressed me the most. I liked his portrayal of the antagonist part. He carried that whole cold and cruel aura with justice. The rest of the supporting cast also did fine, but I wasn't too immersed in the story to comment here.

Overall, this was a huge miss in my books. It's wasn't just about one or two incidents that can be overlooked for overall enjoyment, but it's the constant repeated choices to chip away at the integrity and heart of the story, i.e. the journey of the female general. There was nothing legendary or "general" about it. It's frustrating not because it is unwatchable but it constantly kept reminding me what it could have been.
Will I recommend this? No.

Thank you for reading my review! <3 I hope you like the drama more than me. Please take my opinion as one of many if we don't seem to agree :))

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